Yeah, I agree. I don’t think the ESL is dead. I wasn’t keen on the idea when it dropped, but I think now I wouldn’t be totally opposed to the idea.
I think fans got it wrong when they went straight off on one about greed. It wasn’t greed for FSG. I don’t believe that for a second. It was about managing the competition so costs can be guaranteed and controlled. It was about being able to create a level playing field between the elite and compete with the nation states.
Fans demand more and more money invested into the playing squad through transfers and wages and they are doing so with the context of a competition where we don’t even know what Liverpool will be earning from one season to the next. It’s all good and well for fans to be screaming about competition and pulling the ladder up, but it hypocritical to also be kicking off because Liverpool won’t spent £200m on players or give Mo Salah 500k a week for five years. It one thing to rant on Twitter and another to be responsible for outgoings that demand CL level money over five years with no guarantee you’ll be getting that money.
Well, I ain’t part of the LGBTQ+ community but for the Middle Eastern folks to actually drive anti-LGBTQ+ messages via the club into the city is very difficult to pull off.
If any,in my opinion, these rich oil states has only 3 main motives for buying a football club in England:
Diversification of investments. An initial heavy investment now in a football club can yield a future return when their main sources of income literally dries up.
A huge PR message. Though small but it helps to increase the profile of the country. Fuck me, if my country’s SWF buys Liverpool FC, those who thinks my country is part of the PRC will immediately remember my country for good.
Bragging rights. If Mansour can do it, [insert any middle eastern Prince’s name] can do it better.
I think it’s a bit of both. For sure the controlled cost is most appealing I think, but there is more money for everyone as well. Makes too much sense for it not to go through at some point in some version.
This is completely misunderstanding Klopp’s personality. He personifies the exact contrary philosophy: it’s all about coaching the players for him, and helping them developing into top players. It’s about the joy to slowly form a squad of players which will be so much more worth than the sum of their individual qualities.
Football Manager is an enjoyable computer game, but it has absolutely nothing to do with reality.
Meanwhile, in Major League Baseball… they have just as many problems. salary caps, arbitration, revenue sharing, etc. Oakland A’s average attendance was under 5000/game last season the rest of the league props that franchise up.
Well no it doesnt, particularly the way city go about it by understating its spending and overstating its income.
The league has become more competitive because of FFP and the spread of TV /premier league revenues being paid more evenly reducing the need for clubs to sell their best players.
All City’s spending does is drive prices up (inflation) which has little real cost for themselves but a real impact for others.
The last time I was at Fenway was 20 year ago and it was already way more expensive then Camden Yards.
I spoke with RS fans at the Yard on another occasion and the told me, take a cheap flight a comfort Inn and it is cheaper to come here then go to Fenway
Fenway is one of the smallest in the league, but the issue with getting good attendance in MLB is far more about getting bums in the available seats than it is with offering more seats. They still have one of the highest average attendances because they routinely come close to capacity whereas the other big clubs with bigger stadiums will have as much as 10k empty seats on a typical day. St Louis is probably the only big club with a bigger stadium that does as good a good a job at reaching capacity as the Sox do. The Red Sox ticket is an expensive one but their biggest advantage is how close to selling out they are each game, plus the lack of regional competition. Much like St Louis and the Cubs attract fans from the surrounding 6 or 7 states, Boston is the primary baseball broadcast for everyone north east of New Haven.
Having grown up in England and lived there until I was 37, and now here for another 14 years, I would say that for the average person, discretionary income is greater in America.
Money seems to flow more here. The cost of sports tickets, or concert tickets and so on, is higher. What you are able to charge is all about the market.
Not long ago Liverpool fans were up in arms about FSG wanting to charge 77 quid (can’t remember the exact amount?) for a match ticket. It was a mistake by FSG as they didn’t understand British, and specifically the local Liverpool situation.
They assumed it would be like here, where people wouldn’t think twice about spending $100 or more on a ticket to see a top level sporting event in the States.
Watching football make performative gestures towards inclusion, only to drop them like a sack of shit as soon as they could actually make a difference, tells you what the priority would be.
I think under owners who are hostile towards gay rights, Liverpool FCs own commitment towards inclusion would lessen and dilute. I don’t know how that isn’t obvious.
Without looking into it, the main issue I have with your post as an example is NFL. As a lot of the teams are owned by billionaire’s.
However, to support your point nearly all of the owners are American and most likely have an underlying association with the team they own. Where, in the UK across all divisions there is an increasing trend of foreign ownership, who usually have no affiliation to that club.
The FA and PL both have a responsibility to be more stringent in their fit for ownership tests and FFP.
The one point I want to raise, is that we all see PSG, Man City, Newcastle, Chelsea, etc, as ruining the game by buying success. What we don’t or struggle to see is the opposite affect of foreign ownership. I am from Birmingham and it is scandalous how much Birmingham City have been screwed by the last two owners - one still current but looking to sell.
I personally hope we do not get into the position where the majority of PL clubs are owned by billionaire’s and as a result sees them selling up and moving onto their next toy. I would rather see the Footballing organisations take some responsibility and stop this from happening.
If it continues like this, the Super League and teams becoming Franchises are not a too distant prospect.
